Conveyancing when you remortgage

What remortgage conveyancing involves

Remortgaging is the simplest kind of conveyancing, because the property is not changing hands. There is no buyer, no seller, no chain and no Stamp Duty. What there is instead is one lender being paid off and another taking its place as the charge registered against your title.

That still requires a conveyancer, because your new lender will not release funds until someone has confirmed the title is good and its security will be properly registered.

The work itself

• Title check. Obtaining the register and confirming you own the property, identifying the existing charge, and flagging anything the new lender would object to.
• Lender requirements. Your conveyancer acts for the lender as well as you, and reports on anything in their handbook — a short lease, a restrictive covenant, a recent transfer, an absent building regulations consent.
• Searches or indemnity. Many remortgage lenders accept a search indemnity policy instead of full searches, which is faster and cheaper. Some still require the searches.
• Redemption. Obtaining a redemption figure from your existing lender and repaying it on completion, with interest calculated to the day.
• Registration. Removing the old charge at HM Land Registry and registering the new one.

Timing, and why it matters more than people expect

The point of most remortgages is to move off a rate that is about to expire onto a better one. If completion slips past the date your existing deal ends, you drop onto your lender's standard variable rate in the meantime — which is usually the most expensive rate they offer.

The practical advice is to start early. Mortgage offers are generally valid for a period of months, so there is little downside to having the legal work under way well before your current deal expires, and a real cost to starting late.

The two things most likely to hold up a remortgage are both within your control: returning the paperwork promptly, and completing identity and source-of-funds checks without delay.

Releasing equity, and changing who owns the property

Where you are borrowing more than you need to repay the existing mortgage, the surplus is released to you on completion. Lenders ask what it is for, and the answer can affect whether they lend — home improvements are treated differently from consolidating other debts.

Remortgaging is also the usual moment for adding or removing someone from the title, after a separation or when a partner moves in. That is a transfer of equity, and it is separate work from the remortgage itself even though the two are normally done together. It changes who owns the property and, if a mortgage is involved, needs the lender's consent.